Did You Say Seven?!

Surreal. That is the only word. Friday morning was surreal. I'm making myself sit and type this out before I start to forget. The arrival of our little bundle happened so fast I can still hardly believe he is here. I'd been hoping he'd come early but I never expected he actually would, let alone that he would come two weeks early. This will probably be long, but it's more for me to remember so I'll understand if you pass on by. But let's start at the beginning shall we?

I actually came down with an intense cold last Monday and spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on my couch. I had a fever and couldn't breathe...it was not cool. I had an OB appointment Tuesday that I still went to hoping they would check things out and also to make sure my fever wasn't too high to harm the baby. They sent me on my way without a check or a worry so I came home and slept.

I spent all day Thursday at my in-laws house laying on their couch. I felt quite a bit better but was still pretty tired. That morning I started having contractions here at home that were pretty minor but consistent. I thought once I got Anna on the bus and sat down to rest they would stop, but they didn't. They didn't go away but they didn't get worse either. I actually timed them for an hour at one point but they didn't really get any closer than 5 or 6 minutes and didn't hurt. We had our family dinner and I decided to call the doctor just to see what they thought. Since they were still far apart and not painful the doctor didn't seem to concerned. They said I could come in if I wanted to and they would check me. We decided not to because we needed to get Anna home to bed since she had school the next day and we didn't want to be driving all around and then be sent home because I wasn't in labor.

By this point I'm just frustrated. Contractions all day and nothing. It was actually pretty annoying after awhile. I woke up to use the bathroom and my contractions got intense and close around 2:30 am for about 20 minutes. Looking back I probably should have called the doctor then but they calmed down pretty quick so I just dismissed them and tried to get some sleep.

Matt checked on me before he left for work and thinks were still the same. So he left for the day and headed to the job site...which on that Friday happened to be an hour away. I got out of bed around 7:00 and took a shower. I had conferences with Anna's teacher that morning and actually had to get dressed : ) As we all got up and around getting ready for the day I noticed I was having to stop and focus on the contractions. They were actually starting to hurt. I called Matt around 7:30 and told him he might need to turn around and come home. I then called the doctor who said yes, you need to come in, now. Then chaos began.

Matt's mom came over to get the girls and I was walking around trying to get last-minute stuff in my bag. Matt left his job site and got on the road as quick as he could. I then called my sister-in-law to have her take me to the hospital. By now I'm contracting about 4-5 minutes apart and they hurt. I was starting to freak out a bit too. Why did Matt have to be so far away on this day!?!

We booked it to the hospital and got up to my room. I got changed and proceeded to start all of those things you do when you go to have a baby. The midwife checked me and said, "Well, it's good you came when you did. You are at 7 and 100% effaced". And at that moment I knew...there would be no epidural. I was not mentally prepared to do this again without pain help. I've been there, done that, didn't want to do it again. The midwife told me they would move as quick as possible so I could have an epidural but she couldn't make any guarantees. So I labored along, trying to be patient because I still had no husband. And it was starting to hurt. A. LOT.

Finally he came through the door and I was so relieved. Basically from that point I labored for about 30 minutes until she checked me again. The contractions were coming fast and I was feeling the pressure. I was at 9 and moving quick. She offered to break my water explaining that it could speed things up. Yes, PLEASE!! And that did it. She broke my water, started to tell me there was meconium and that was all I heard. He was coming and nothing was going to stop him. I was starting to yell at this point and Matt told me I yelled "He's coming!" at one point. She told me to go ahead and push if I felt I needed to and push I did. I pushed and yelled for about 2 minutes and we had a son. And when I say yelled, I mean top of my lungs, save me now, yelled.

3 hours total. I got up at 7:00 and he was born at 9:52. I was at the hospital for about an hour, Matt made it there 45 minutes before Will was born, and then it was done. It happened so fast it's hard to explain. One minute I'm getting my kids ready and the next I'm having a baby. Which is fine of course! Cause now he's here and he is perfect. We are now a family of 5. I can't just say 'the girls' anymore, it's 'the kids'. And yes, I'm tired, my boobs hurt, and I feel like I don't have any idea what I'm doing, but that is ok. I wouldn't have it any other way.

William - Strong-willed warrior, my paternal grandfather's middle name

Henry - Matt's maternal grandfather